Best Managed Companies in AmericaHoping for a Bad Winter Tatiana Serafin, 01.10.05

Retailing

Advance Auto Parts

After a recent run of mergers and expansions Advance Auto Parts is gunning to replace $5.6 billion (sales)AutoZone as the nation's top retailer of automotive parts and accessories.

Advance Auto's 2,612 stores in 39 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands generated $3.7 billion in sales in the past 12 months and outperformed its rivals with average five-year sales growth of 21% and three-year earnings growth of 85%.

The company serves 200 million customers per year in the car and light-truck aftermarket, which includes replacement filters, radiators and brake pads, but not tires. Advance targetsthe growing $34 billion (sales)"do-it-yourself" market, which is being fueled, among other things, by the higher cost of replacement parts in more tech-loaded models.

Bad weather helps, too: Acold winter this year will mean more failing parts. Because there's not a lot of price differentiation among auto parts outfits, Advance has adopted a more customer-friendly look outside and inside. It's replaced the usual hodgepodge tables of tools and parts with a tidier display organized by category:Everything you could want for radiators or, say, for an oil change, is in one place.

"Our business is not rocket science," says Chief Executive Lawrence Castellani. "We are an execution story."

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